THE ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF MERCURY IN MALACCA. 8l 



2. The metal was hidden in the ground. This is possible, 

 and may have been done for an unlimited number of reasons, 

 but then suitable vessels would have been used, and no trace 

 of such has been unearthed. 



3. The mercury was spilled by accident. This too is pos- 

 sible ; it must have been a pretty big and expensive spill, and 

 the operator does not seem to have tried very hard to pick 

 up the precious fluid. 



4. Who buried or spilled the mercury ? There is no record 

 of mercury being stored on St. Paul's Hill during recent 

 years ; the Dutch or Portuguese may, therefore, have been 

 the guilty party. 



5. What was the mercury intended for? Gold-mining? 



6. Why was it buried in the ground if we discard the 

 spilling theory ? 



The above and a legion more questions and conjectures 

 environ the mercurial puzzle of St. Paul's Hill, Malacca. 

 Whether any light will ever be thrown upon the dark problem 

 of the bright metal, whether one of the many contributors of 

 this Journal familiar with side issues and odd details of 

 Malacca history will be able to produce facts bearing upon 

 the matter, remains to be seen. Until then, to Malacca will 

 belong the credit of an inexplicable conjuring trick in the 

 mineral line, unless the reader traces the mercury back to 

 spiritualistic agencies, or concludes, with TOPSY, that it 

 "growed. " 



W. BOTT. 



NOTE. — Since writing the above I have found the possible 

 explanation of the discovery of mercury in St. Paul's Hill. 

 Cameron in his book " Malayan India," chapter XIII, states, 

 that about 1864 Captain PLAYFAIR discovered at the base of 

 the hill an old cellar or store-room which had formed part of 

 the old Portuguese Government buildings. In it — in a small 

 recess — were found forty or fifty earthenware pots mostly 

 crumbled to pieces, but each of those which were whole con- 

 tained a small quantity of mercury. Only about four pounds 



